BUSINESS NEWS

• LANCASTER FACTORY ROLLS OUT FIRST ALL-ELECTRIC BUS: LANCASTER (AP) — A Chinese-owned company rolled out its first California-made electric bus Monday from a desert factory that aims to produce 1,000 of the plug-in vehicles a year.

Gov. Jerry Brown attended the unveiling ceremony for the 40-foot-long all-electric bus at the BYD Motors factory, which employs about 60 people in the Antelope Valley northeast of Los Angeles. It’s part of a municipal fleet ordered by the city of Long Beach.

“This is a small beginning - a few buses - but it holds the promise of something very big and very important,” Brown said in a statement.

BYD, which stands for “Build Your Dreams,” is the world’s largest manufacturer of rechargeable batteries. It is the largest domestic automaker and electric bus manufacturer in China.

The company has concentrated on California, establishing its North American headquarters in Los Angeles about three years ago.

The factory is a refurbished RV manufacturing plant in a wind-swept, sage-dotted corner of the Mojave Desert. BYD says it hopes to increase the workforce there to 100 by year’s end and to add another 200 employees by the end of next year.

The company says its buses can travel 155 miles between charges with a full load of passengers and the air conditioning running.

• MICROSOFT WARNS OF INTERNET EXPLORER SECURITY GAP: REDMOND, Wash. (AP) — Microsoft says a security gap in Internet Explorer could allow an attacker to take complete control of a computer if the user clicks on a malicious link.

The vulnerability affects versions 6 through 11 of the Web browser.

Microsoft Corp. said Saturday that it was aware of “limited, targeted attacks” that tried to exploit the security gap. The company is working on a fix which it plans to provide in a software update on May 13.

In the meantime, Microsoft encourages customers to enable a firewall, apply all software updates and install anti-malware software.

A division of the Homeland Security Department recommends that users download a security toolkit from Microsoft or use another browser until an update becomes available.

RadiumOne said in a statement that its board of directors decided Saturday night to fire CEO and Chairman Gurbaksh Chahal.

Chahal, 31, pleaded guilty earlier this month to battery and domestic violence battery, both misdemeanors, in the August 2013 beating of his girlfriend.

On Friday, the Democratic National Committee said it returned Chahal’s $20,000 donation in the wake of his conviction. RadiumOne made no mention of Chahal’s conviction when announcing his ouster late Saturday.

But Chahal said in a blog post Monday that he was fired when he told board members he wouldn’t resign.

Chahal also blamed social media for becoming the “court of public opinion” in his case.

The San Francisco district attorney’s office charged Chahal with 45 felonies for allegedly punching and kicking his girlfriend more than 100 times and attempting to smother her with a pillow in his penthouse after he learned she had cheated on him with a man during a trip to Las Vegas, according to court documents.

The alleged attack was caught on home-surveillance footage, authorities said. Chahal initially pleaded not guilty to all charges and posted $1 million bail. He also hired former federal prosecutor Jim Lassart, who said prosecutors were blowing out of proportion an argument between Chahal and his girlfriend.

Chahal’s girlfriend then stopped cooperating with the investigation and asked prosecutors to drop the charges. But prosecutors said they would proceed even if she wouldn’t testify.